Please do not let a Bird Breeder or Store tell you
"It's No Big Deal To Hand Feed Baby Birds".

There are many
breeders out there that sell unweaned baby birds and they will tell you
its easy to hand feed and take care of them.

Some breeders will
also tell you that the baby is weaned. When in fact the baby was not quite ready
and is not able to eat on its own well enough. This can result in a
set back for the baby if not ready to eat completely on its own.

There are many good
breeders and there are many bad breeders and the same goes for stores and you must be able to tell them
a part.

My suggestion to
you is: Please Don't Buy Unweaned Baby Birds. Don't let a breeder tell
you that 'It's No Big Deal',
It's not fair to the baby bird to have a change in the hand feeder.
You will stress the baby tremendously and they may not wean properly and
could turn out to be more of a finicky eater when it learns to eat on its
own. Babies need to stay in a well secure environment that it is use
to until weaned. Read on our
Hand Feeding Page about some hand
feeding risks.

There are numerous
hand feeders out there that get babies just to hand feed and that's okay
as long as they completely wean them before they sell you a baby. A
baby should be able to eat on its own for at least a week or more before
they release it to you.

I'm not downing
anyone who truly wants to learn to hand feed, but you have a lot to learn
first. You must be at home mostly, babies are on a time feeding schedule
and have to be kept a proper temperatures. Baby Birds are a very
time consuming effort. It's at least a 3 to 4 month or longer process for
medium to large birds. It's a huge commitment. If new hatchlings are
on a 2 hour feeding schedule then you will have a hard time doing other
things away from the house, by the time you get there, it's time to turn
around to go back home. You can not be late or skip feedings. I
basically go no where during baby season. You must be very content
to be able to stay at home. Although you can take babies with you
under certain circumstances. Learn all you can before considering
hand feeding baby birds. There are no vacations coming your way,
unless you are one who likes to pawn off your baby bird duties. I
have not been on a actual vacation in over ten years. When its not
baby season I will manage to get away for one night, but arrangements have
to be made to have the breeder birds looked after. I still always
feel edgy about someone else taking care of them.

Good Reputable
Bird Breeders: They have the knowledge of the species that they raise.
Large commercial type bird farms are sometimes a good place to buy baby birds from.
Many Small Breeders can be a good source to buy birds from and they
usually have more time to give the attention and love to make them sweet
babies. Large breeders that have hired help in raising their babies
will produce sweet babies too.

Pet Stores can be a
good experience and sometimes not so good, please before you consider on
buying a bird from a store be sure you have some knowledge on what you are
wanting to purchase. If you are
interested in one of the stores birds, try to get as much background
information about the bird before buying it, whether it be a baby bird or
an adult bird. Questions to ask would be: where did the bird
come from, how old is the bird, sex of bird, what is the bird's
current diet, does it seem to get along with other birds.
There are other questions that you will probably be able to think of as
you do your search on birds.